Snakeskin
by Cascade Waters
Summary: Canon isn't working for me right now. This is the first part of my 'fix.' Thanks to the guest who alerted me to reformat!


I don't own them. They should be very glad for that.

A/N: I am two weeks behind on the show, and have deliberately avoided spoilers. This is the first part of my 'fix' for what I've seen and what I can see coming.

Scott's head came up moments before Theo's did, the alpha surprised and the beta wary. Scott's front door opened, and a young man stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Derek!" Scott said, and Theo stopped growling as he saw that the alpha was… pleased. He guessed this must be a friend. Great—another one to watch. Well, at least he wouldn't have to put up with this stuff, and these morons, for much longer.

Derek had his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, and he looked relaxed. He'd put on a few shades of tan since Scott had seen him, and his scruff was still there and still fairly neat. He looked good, his eyes a bit less… shadowed. Scott was happy to see his friend in any case, but he was also realizing that Derek might be able to advise him on how to keep his pack from totally coming undone. Scott went in for a bro-hug, then invited Derek to sit with him and his newest packie. "Any chance you've got a minute to help me dig myself out of a hole here?" He felt rude, not catching up first, but he was just too worried right now.

Derek nodded readily enough, taking a seat with the alpha on his left and beta on his right, and Scott laid out everything from the past few weeks, emphasizing Theo's help and Stiles' stubborn refusal to accept Theo or honor Scott's judgment. He agonizingly told of Liam's disappearance, and of Scott's and Stiles' last conversation, which had effectively severed Stiles from the pack and probably from Scott's life over the younger boy's absolute unwillingness to behave reasonably. Derek listened intently, making sympathetic nods and noises, and then he just thought silently for a moment, eyes unfocused and hands still in his pockets.

"So… any thoughts? Advice? Moral of the story?" Scott pled quietly.

"Um, yeah, actually, I think I can probably help you," Derek said encouragingly. Scott slumped in relief.

And then Derek moved, so fast that neither younger wolf had time to effectively react. His right hand shot out of his pocket, holding a hefty syringe with a serious needle, which he plunged into Theo's thigh and emptied in a blink. Theo tried to react, but his body was already unresponsive, though his amber eyes promised death even as they faded helplessly to human. Scott was halfway to his feet when Derek's left hand came up and smacked him jarringly on the back of the head. The alpha wolf came out with a growl, and Derek stoccatoed "Thank *you,*" and forced Scott's clawed right hand across and to the back of Theo's neck, stabbing the claws deep into the flesh and holding them there. "Now," he said to Theo, in a deceptively conversational and dangerously parental tone, "do I owe you an apology and a pizza, or have you been a bad little puppy?" He could see the hatred in Theo's eyes warring with confusion as the veroloso root Derek had liberally mixed in with the kanima venom went to work, forcing the boy's thoughts to answer the question truthfully and in graphic detail for Scott.

As Scott's chemosignals colored with growing shock and anger at what he was 'seeing,' Derek let go of his wrist and sat back a bit, letting the venom and South America lycan version of truth serum guide Scott to the answers he, and his pack, so desperately needed. The link took a bit longer than usual, and Derek watched the two teenagers carefully for signs of physical or psychic trouble, but when Scott ripped himself out of Theo's mind and neck, the alpha was (at least mostly in control) of himself, glaring at the younger boy. Instead of caging his wolf, though, Scott narrowed dark red eyes and growled fiercely, and made two quick swipes, opening his former beta from upper chest to hip bones in what could have been intersecting music staves, if music was made of blood and betrayal. "I should take your eyes and snap off your cojones and feed it all to you raw." Scott's chest as he breathed heavily, trying to get a grip on himself. "But you're not worth it. Have fun healing from being marked by an alpha, you little piece of crap!"

Derek didn't so much as twitch until Scott turned to focus on him. "You sure the pain won't…?"

"Ah, got that covered, too," Derek said calmly, and jammed a fresh needle into Theo's shredded abs, pumping another generous dose of venom into him. "We could run over him in the jeep and he'd still be stuck like this for a while."

Scott quirked an eyebrow, and Derek wondered if he was going to ask if that was an option, but the alpha reined in his wolf and his temper. "Thanks, Derek. But… you came loaded. How'd you know?"

Derek gave a lopsided shrug. "Little birdie sent me an anonymous note. 'Alphaboy needs help. Snake in den. Truth not clear.' So here I am, alphaboy."

Scott temporarily tabled the issue of who the 'little birdie' might be. "How'd you know it was him? The snake."

"Have you not ever seen a single horror, mafia, or spy movie? Shiny new brown-noser shows up just as everything starts going pear-shaped? Besides, if I'd been wrong, you'd know it by now, and this little pup'd be picking pizza toppings while we talked about who else it could be." Now Derek stood, his expression losing all trace of humor. "Scott, I love you, but you're an idiot. You let some little punk, whatever his game, get between you and your pack, and worse, between you and the guy who's been protecting you since you were four years old? Even if there'd been no betrayal, if the prince of excrement here had just been looking for a place to belong, you have to listen to your packies, you have to trust them. You have to be a better alpha than I was."

Scott swallowed hard and nodded, accepting the verbal spanking without attitude. "Thanks," he said, meaning for everything, and hugged Derek again, this time with both arms.

"Yeah, whatever. Now don't worry, Theo and I will just be here, bonding. You go, put your pack back together. And for the sake of all that's holy, go make it right with Stiles before he does something silly, like burn all your friendship bracelets!"

Scott was far from laughing, but he appreciated the humor and the veiled warning, and he nodded at Derek in respect, then flashed his eyes at Theo, hoping that it was the last second he'd ever have to waste on the traitor. He walked out of his house without another word, determined to fix what he'd allowed to be broken.

Derek turned his head slowly to the right, giving Theo a wolfish grin. "Now, my little shop window dummy, just what shall we do with you?" Theo couldn't speak, or move, or he'd have pulled back when the young man looked at him that way, especially when green eyes suddenly glowed amber, and then… flickered.


End file.
